Zmeu
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In Romanian mythology the Zmeu is a creature similar to the dragon (balaur in Romanian folklore, although this is not a direct translation). It appears in the sky and spits fire. It has a magical precious stone on its head that shines like the sun. It likes beautiful young girls, whom it kidnaps. It is almost always defeated by a daring prince or knight-errant.
The "zmeu" figures prominently in many Romanian folk tales as the manifestation of "pagan evil" and the destructive forces of greed and selfishness. Often times, the zmeu steals something of great value, which only Fat-Frumos (the Romanian "Prince Charming"; literally: "handsome youth") can retrieve through his great, selfless bravery. For example, in the ballad of the knight Greuceanu, the zmeu steals the sun and the moon from the sky, thereby enshrouding all humanity in darkness. In the story of "Prâslea the Brave and the Golden Apples", the zmeu robs the king of the precious "golden apples"; a parallel can be drawn to the Eleventh Labour of Hercules, in which Hercules must retrieve the Golden Apples of the Hesperides. Usually, the zmeu resides on the "other side of the world," and sometimes Fat-Frumos has to descend into his dark kingdom, implying that the zmeu lives underground, perhaps in the Underworld.
The zmeu has a plethora of magical, destructive powers at his disposal. He can fly, transform himself into various creatures, and has tremendous supernatural strength. Ultimately, the abilities of the zmeu are of no avail, as Fat-Frumos defeats him through martial skill and daring.
Some English translations refer to the "zmeu" as the ogre or giant from western European mythologies, and there is some truth to such analogies. Like the ogre, the zmeu likes to kidnap a maiden to be his wife in his otherwordly realm. After Fat-Frumos slays the zmeu, he takes the maiden as his bride-to-be. Similarly, like the giant in the popular British stories of "Jack and the Beanstalk", the zmeu returns home to his fortress from his raids into human lands sensing that a human (Fat-Frumos) is lying in ambush somewhere nearby.
As an interesting side-note on the zmeu's ability to fly, in Romanian as in German, the word for dragon also refers to the kites that children fly.